The 1946 Giro d'Italia was the 29thedition of the Giro d'Italia, a cycling race organized and sponsored by the newspaperLa Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 15 June in Milan with a stage that stretched 185km (115mi) to Turin, finishing back in Milan on 7 July after a 176km (109mi) stage and a total distance covered of 3,039.5km (1,889mi). The race was won by the Italian rider Gino Bartali of the Legnano team, with fellow Italians Fausto Coppi and Vito Ortelli coming in second and third respectively.

Participants

The 1946 Giro d'Italia was contested by seven teams and six groups.[1] The seven teams that entered the race were: Legnano, Bianchi, Viscontea, Benotto, Olmo, Welter, and Wilier-Triestina.[1] The six groups that started the race were: Milan-Gazzetta, V. C. Bustese, Fronte Della Gioventu'-Duluz, Azzini-Freni Universal, and Centro Sportivo Italiano.[1] Each team consisted of seven riders, while each group was made up of four cyclists.[1] This made the starting peloton total 79 riders.[1] Of the riders that began the race, only 40 were able to complete the race.[2]

Classification leadership

The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.[4]

In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the riders who crossed them first.[4]

The winner of the team classification was determined by adding the finish times of the best three cyclists per team together and the team with the lowest total time was the winner.[2][5] If a team had fewer than three riders finish, they were not eligible for the classification.[2][5] The group classification was decided in the same manner, but the classification was exclusive to the competing groups.[5]

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.